Alternative Readings of Labourer’s Love: The Shakespearean, Pan-Laborist, and Technological Uncanny

Abstract

Abstract Contemporary source materials confirm that Labourer’s Love was designed to be experimental and editable. It puts the credibility of the extant film in question, and opens up many hermeneutic possibilities. Intriguing issues such as its titles, thematic narrative, and technological aspects of its production call for alternative readings. Based on Zheng Zhengqiu’s benshi (the original synopsis), this paper discusses about the film’s Shakespearean predilection and pan-laborist ideologies. A further relational sociological analysis, however, shows that with the hidden functioning of technical media like lighting and noise, the film has transcended the superficial laborer/non-laborer narrative and created a craftsman/technology discourse. As a result, the established spatial–temporal relations were annihilated and the film generated an experience of technological uncanny.